JAGged Investigation
by alicat10025
Summary: Cross-over with Alias. When CIA meets Navy there's sure to be an adventure. JAG: H/M, Alias: S/V
1. Chapter 1

**Authors Note: **I started writing this a couple of years ago and posted it at SD-1. Never got to finish it but recently found it again. Thought I'd try to finish it and post it here.

**Authors Note 2:** This takes place after Season 3 on Alias - so Lauren is dead. Syd and Vaughn are together. Season 4 hasn't happened so no Nadia, APO, or working for Sloane. In the JAG timeline this takes place post Season 8. After Paraguay Harm and Mac end up together and she was never with Webb and her health problems never happened. Vukovic doesn't exist.

**Disclaimer:** Alias and JAG do not belong to me - they belong to JJ Abrams and Donald P. Bellisario respectively.

_Chapter One_

Michael Vaughn entered the apartment he shared with his girlfriend Sydney Bristow, sorting through the mail. It appeared to be the usual assortment of junk mail and bills until he got to the bottom of the pile where he found an extremely elegant looking envelope. Wondering what it was, he noticed that it was addressed to Michael Vaughn and guest, which really made him curious. Dumping the rest of the pile on the coffee table he sat down on the couch while opening the envelope, wondering who would sent him something like this. The return address was somewhere in the D.C. area but that still didn't help him figure out who this was from. He was surprised to find a wedding invitation inside.

**Lt. Colonel Sarah Mackenzie, USMC**

and

Commander Harmon Rabb, Jr., USN

Request the honor of your presence as they join their lives together

In Holy Matrimony

Saturday the 29th of October, 2005

Ceremony to take place at the Annapolis Naval Academy Chapel at 4 pm

Reception at half past five at the Annapolis Officer's Club

Dress uniforms invited

Vaughn was shocked. It had been years since he had heard from Harmon Rabb. They had become friends during their first year at Georgetown Law School. The last time he had seen him had been the day of their graduation. He knew Harm had been assigned to JAG Headquarters in Virginia but he had never had the opportunity to go by and see him. Two weeks after graduation Vaughn had left for the Farm and then been sent to the Agency's LA office. He had heard through the rumor mill that Harm had been involved with some Agency operations but as he was assigned to the Alliance case and then to Rambaldi research he had never had anything to do with those operations.

He was still sitting on the couch reminiscing on the past when Sydney walked into the apartment. She came over and sat down on his lap, worried about the far off look in Vaughn's eyes.

"Vaughn? Everything ok?"

"Yeah, Syd, I'm fine. Just thinking about some things from my past."

"And what prompted this reflection into the past? Did something happen?"

"Nothing bad, Syd, I promise. I got a wedding invitation from a law school classmate and it just made me think back to that time in my life. I haven't heard from him in a long time so I was a bit surprised when I opened the envelope."

"You never talk about your time in law school. I don't think I've ever heard you mention any of your friends from that time. Tell me about him."

"Let's see. Harm's in the Navy. When I me him he had just recovered from an accident. He was a pilot but there was some sort of problem with eyes so he couldn't fly anymore. But he still had a commitment to the Navy because he was an Annapolis graduate. Somehow, he was convinced to go to law school and become a lawyer for the Navy JAG force. I remember him being so angry because his dream of being a pilot like his father had been taken away. Actually, we're a lot alike in that respect - both of us choosing our careers to honor our fathers. His father was shot down over Vietnam in 1969. Anyway, he was very closed off in the beginning, not letting people get close to him. He and I were assigned as partners for a project a month into out first semester so we spent a lot of time together and eventually he became less standoffish and we got to know each other. We chose to be roommates our second and third year as we seemed to both have similar goals and priorities and our personalities meshed well. The last time I saw him in person was on the day of our graduation. That day, he received his assignment to JAG Headquarters in Falls Church, Virginia. I had always figured I would have the chance to stop by and visit him there, but two weeks later I left for the Farm. Since then we have exchanged the occasional letter or email but neither of us have had the chance to keep in constant contact with the demands of out jobs. I've actually heard that he and another JAG lawyer have helped the Agency out a couple of times on some operations but I don't really know much about that."

"He sounds interesting. And I can see how you'd be friends with him. So you going to go to his wedding?"

"Only if you come with me. The invitation was addressed to Michael Vaughn and guest. Of course that would require us being given time off to go to the D.C. area since the wedding is going to be at Annapolis in October."

"I'm sure we can figure out a way to get off then - we'll just have to convince Dixon that we should be allowed to go see your old friend get married."

"Yeah, I guess. Anyway, enough of this reminiscing about my past. Go get changed into something more comfortable and we'll go somewhere for dinner."

"Whatever you say Agent Vaughn," Sydney answered, getting off his lap and walking towards the bedroom.


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter Two_

Harm pushed his chair back from his desk after reading the email. He hadn't been so sure about sending Michael Vaughn the wedding invitation. It had been years since they had spoken and even longer since they had seen each other. But when Sarah asked him if he wanted to invite any friends from law school to their wedding, Mike's name had been the first he thought of.

Without really paying attention to what he was doing, Harm picked up the phone and automatically dialed Sarah's extension. She was no longer in the office just next door as she had been transferred to the Judiciary when they announced their engagement.

"Mackenzie," came the quick reply across the line.

"Soon to be Rabb," Harm teased her back.

"Hi Harm," she replied and he could hear the smile in her voice. "Everything ok?"

"Yeah, everything is fine. I'm getting ready to pack up and secure for the day. You ready to head home yet?"

"Give me about 15 minutes and I'll meet you in the parking lot."

"Sounds good. See you in a few minutes."

After hanging up his phone, Harm finished packing up his briefcase and headed across the bullpen towards the elevator. He was anxious to see Sarah. He had an idea about inviting his old friend to come visit for a couple of days and wanted to know how she would feel about it.

Three minutes later he stood next to his Corvette in the JAG parking lot waiting for Mac. Once she came outside they got into the car to drive home and Harm figured it would be the perfect time to ask her about having his friend come visit.

Mac seemed to notice he was thinking about something of importance. "Harm, you going to tell me what you have on your mind? Clearly there's something you are thinking about that you're so quiet."

"You're right. I got an email from my friend Michael Vaughn. Remember, we added him to the wedding invitation list when you were asking me about my law school friends. He told me about what's been going on his life but I feel like there was definitely something he wasn't telling me. He mentioned his girlfriend Sydney a couple of times, and that they live together now, but the tone of the email seemed a bit troubled I just think he might need someone to talk to. When we were in school we often talked about things. I guess you could say we had a pretty good understanding of each other and I guess we often acted as each other's psychological counselor in a sense."

"Tell me more about him. You never really talk much about your time in law school. I know about your time at Annapolis and in flight school as well as the time you spent on a carrier and here at JAG. Your mother and grandmother have told me numerous stories from your childhood but those three years have never really been a topic of conversation before."

"Over dinner. We're almost home and I don't think I could tell you much in the 3 minutes it will take to get home at this point." Just as he finished speaking Harm pulled onto their block and found a parking spot. The both got out of the car and headed up to their apartment, where they quickly changed. Mac called in a pizza order and they settled down onto the couch together.

"So tell me about Harmon Rabb, the law school years."

"When I first got to Georgetown I was angry. My dream of following in my father's footsteps had been taken away from me yet I still had a debt to fill to the Navy. I was also still feeling guilty because of Mace's death, despite having been found not guilty by the Board of Inquiry."

"I was pretty closed off to people, especially my classmates. And then I was assigned Michael Vaughn as my partner for a project and I was forced into spending a lot of time with him. Eventually his mere presence and willingness to look past my horrible attitude made me comfortable enough to open up to him."

"So what was he like? If you became friends with him then how is it I've never heard you mention him before?"

"The longer we worked together, and the more time we spent together, I found we had many similarities. His father was a CIA officer killed in the line of duty when he was eight years old. His mother was a French native and after his father's death he spent his childhood in France with her until he was old enough to go to college when he returned to the US. He had always considered following his father into the Agency but he knew his mother was set against it so he chose law school instead. However, it soon became clear to him that being a lawyer wasn't what he wanted to do. He stuck it out through school in an attempt to please his mother, and it was pretty good for me to have him around as a friend too. But ultimately he decided to join the CIA after we graduated. He left for the Agency Farm two weeks after we graduated from school. At the same time I was assigned to JAG Headquarters. I guess we always assumed we'd see each other when he was finished with the Farm considering how close JAG and Langley are, but after finishing the Farm he was immediately assigned to the LA office. I actually needed Webb to help me track him down to send a wedding invitation to."

"So when do I get to meet him? I'd love to hear someone else's stories from your time in law school."

"That's actually what I was thinking about. Would it be too hectic with wedding plan and scheduling to have him and his girlfriend Sydney come out and visit us sometime soon. He sounds like he could use some of our old sessions right now but if it's going to be too difficult to deal with wedding plans while they are here then we don't have to invite them."

"No, send them an invite. Tell him they can even stay in the spare room here if they want or we can help them with hotel arrangements."

Just then the doorbell rang. The pizza had arrived. After Harm paid the delivery boy they settled back down and began discussing other topics. But the topic of Michal Vaughn's visit was not forgotten as the next morning Harm emailed Vaughn with an invitation to come visit for both him and Sydney to come visit before the wedding.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN:** Thanks to my reviewers. Hopefully more people will be interested in this story and review. And it will get more interesting, this is just still setting up some of the background to get to the more interesting parts.

_Chapter Three_

**From: HRabb  
To: MVaughn**

Subject: Come for a Visit

Hey Mike,

Great to hear from you. I really hope you can make it for the wedding and I'm looking forward to meeting the woman in your life. Sarah and I were discussing it and we think you and Sydney should come visit us here in Virginia before the wedding. It would be a great chance for the two of us to catch up and Sarah is eager to meet you and get some stories from you about me in law school. Personally, I think she doesn't need any more stories on me - she's already got more than enough from the past few years.

Anyway, best get back to work before the Admiral gets upset with me. Let me know if and when you are coming - you're welcome to stay with us or we can help you get set-up with a hotel.

Harm

Vaughn finished reading the email from Harm, and leaned back in his chair to contemplate. The truth was he could really use some advice from him. Yes, he and Sydney were together and were happy, but the spectre of all the had happened while she was missing, particularly his marriage to Lauren, loomed in the background. And there were people who were suggesting that he should see one of the Langley psychologists to discuss the situation with it as everyone in the LA office was to close to the situation. Plus, he and Harm had always been able to talk to each other about the problems in life. Talking to his friend might actually help in this case. Perhaps he could somehow swing it all into one trip. Maybe he should run that by Sydney and see what she thought about it all.

Picking up his phone, Vaughn quickly dialed Sydney. "Bristow," she answered after the first ring.

"Hey Syd, it's me. I just got an email from my friend Harm inviting us to come visit him and his fiancé before the wedding. And I was thinking maybe at the same time going in to see a psychologist at Langley if we get permission to go on this trip. Interested?"

"Absolutely. I'm supposed to see a Langley psychologist too. And it'll be nice to get away from LA for a bit. When were you thinking of going?"

"Well, I was going to run things by Dixon after talking to you. See when we would be able to get away for at least a couple of days. I'll let you know what he says and then I'll set things up with Harm. He offered for us to stay with them when we're there. Is that a good idea or would you rather stay at a hotel in the area. He wrote that if we'd rather stay at a hotel he could help us with that, as well."

"Part of me thinks we should stay with them, since it's really such a generous offer. On the other hand, maybe we'll need our own space is we go to see the Langley psychologists and things don't go too well."

"Well, Harm was my "psychologist" in law school. We seriously told each other everything so he's seen me at my worst and I doubt anything that the Langley people do will be worse than what he's already seen me through. On the other hand, you don't know these people at all, so I could understand you not wanting to be in their space if things get really bad. So really, it's your call."

"We can stay with them if you want, it's fine. It might be nice to actually spend time with another woman my age. Much as I love hanging out with you and Eric, I can't really talk to you about girl stuff. The only woman I see to spend any time with that's my age is Carrie, and she's been so busy with the baby that even that doesn't happen often. Maybe I'll be able to just hang out with Harm's fiancé, go shopping or something. I can't remember the last time I did anything like that."

"Ok, I'll let Harm know. And I'll mention that you're interested in getting to know Sarah, though from what I can tell he also calls her Mac, it seems. I'm going to go talk to Dixon about this - and mention that we both figured we'd arrange to go to Langley for our psych evaluations while visiting friends. If Dixon gives it a go I'll call Langley and set up our appointments."

"Just make sure we DON'T have the same person do both our evaluations. Otherwise, their might be some preconceived notions before the second one of us talks to them. I think it's important that we each have someone without any biases to speak to."

"Different psychologists. Got it. Let me go talk to Dixon and call Langley then. I also need to finish a report so that I can be done at a reasonable time here today."

"Ok, bye."


	4. Chapter 4

**AN1:** To the reviewer who said Harm should be a Captain, please remember that he wasn't promoted until Season 10, and this is not long after Season 8.

**AN2:** To those asking about Vaughn and law school, while it's not part of the Alias background, I have him in law school before he goes to Langley, as I wrote in Chapter 1.

_Chapter Four_

That evening Syd and Vaughn were lounging at home, discussing their upcoming trip to Virginia. Dixon had easily given approval to the trip, believing it would do the couple some good. He was especially happy to hear that they would be consulting with psychologists at Langley given what they had been put through with Lauren. Vaughn had managed to get them simultaneous appointments with two of the staff psychologists . The only contingency on their trip was to be prepared to head into the office at Langley should a need arise.

Vaughn had also sent an email to Harm, saying that they would stay in a hotel. He and Sydney both felt that they might need privacy to deal with the aftermath of their psychology sessions and it would be difficult to have that in someone's apartment.

Now they were eagerly anticipating their trip and looking forward to seeing some of the D.C. area sites. Neither had ever really done much sight-seeing in the area - generally only going there for brief visits when it was necessary to be at Langley for something or other.

_3 Days Later, Dulles International Airport, Early morning_

Harm and Mac had gotten up extremely early that morning to meet Syd and Vaughn at the airport. Of course, Vaughn had told Harm not to come and that they could just take a cab to the hotel.

In fact, Vaughn believed that Harm wasn't coming to the airport so he and Sydney were at the baggage carousel waiting for their bags. They were extremely surprised when they heard an announcement that someone over the intercom that someone was looking for Vaughn.

**"Will Michael Vaughn and party please report to the America Airlines courtesy desk by Exit C. Michael Vaughn please come to the courtesy desk at Exit C."**

Vaughn and Syd did not immediately assume that the reason for the page was to meet Harm and Mac. Instead, they were concerned that someone had called from work to leave them a message about something urgent. They therefore waited until they had all their bags before approaching the courtesy desk warily.

Harm was not actually at the desk when the got there. He had gone to pick up some coffee for the four of them. Mac was waiting at the desk for them, but since Vaughn and Mac had never met before there was no immediate recognition between them as Sydney and Vaughn approached the desk. Instead, Vaughn approached the woman behind th desk.

"I'm Michael Vaughn. I was paged."

"Yes, Mr. Vaughn. There were two people waiting here for you but they seem to have disappeared. Oh, there's the woman who was looking for you. Excuse me, Ma'am," the woman called over to Mac, "Were you the one waiting for Michael Vaughn?"

"Yes thank you," she replied turning around.

"Hi, I'm Michael Vaughn. You must be Sarah," Vaughn stated, extending his hand in greeting.

"Yes, I am. Harm just went on a coffee run, we figured all of us could use some this early in the morning. And you must be Sydney," she said turning towards Syd.

"I am. It's nice to meet you Sarah."

"Call me Mac. All of my friends do. You'll notice Harm using the two interchangeably, but no one else will use Sarah."

"Well, it's nice to meet you Mac."

Just then Harm came over, carrying a tray with four cups of coffee as well as some doughnuts. Mac picked 2 donuts and a coffee off the tray immediately, causing Harm to laugh.

"Should have known you'd need more than one, Jarhead."

"Watch is Stickboy, not all of us live like rabbits."

Syd and Vaughn couldn't help but start laughing at the exchange between them, causing Harm to look up, put the tray down, and then pull Vaughn into a bear-hug.

"Da** Mike but it is good to see you." Then he glanced over to Sydney and added, "Still hanging out with beautiful women I see."

Sydney mumbled something under her breath that no one could hear at that comment. Vaughn turned to look at her, sending her a message with his eyes not to make an issue of things. Harm and Mac noticed and exchanged confused glances but the situation was generally ignored.

"Well, Harm, allow me to introduce my wonderful and beautiful girlfriend Sydney Bristow."

"Sydney, what are you doing with this gu?. Couldn't do any better?" Harm teased.

"Oh, Vaughn has his moments. I think I'll keep him for now."

"You call him Vaughn?"

"Yeah, well it's because of how we met at work."

"Okay, I can appreciate that, it's one of the reasons I sometimes call Sarah, Mac. It's definitely a work thing there too. But enough of that - let's get out of here." Harm bent down to help Vaughn with the bags, not allowing Sydney to carry her own.

"He does that all the time. Always trying to take my stuff for me, you could say he is a true Officer and a Gentleman," Mac said to Sydney. "Sometimes I need to remind him that I am a Marine and more than capable of taking care of things myself."

"Well, I'm tired so if he wants to carry my bags around for me then by all means."

**AN:** Next chapter will have more Harm/Vaughn interaction. This is just a chapter to get Syney and Vaugh to DC.

**AN2:** To the reviewer who said Harm should be a Captain, please remember that he wasn't promoted until Season 10, and this is not long after Season 8.

**AN3:** To those asking about Vaughn and law school, while it's not part of the Alias background, I have him in law school before he goes to Langley, as I wrote in Chapter 1.


	5. Chapter 5

**_Chapter Five_**

_Later on, Same day_

After dropping Syd and Vaughn off at their hotel, Harm and Mac had rushed home to get ready for work, arriving just in time. From that point on the day had dragged on a bit and it was thankfully almost time for the day to end. Harm was anxious to talk with Vaughn, because he could tell there was some sort of underlying tension between Mike and Syd based on their interactions at the airport.

_Same time, Syd and Vaughn's hotel room_

Vaughn was contemplating calling Harm so they could hang out that night. He really needed someone to talk to who could offer him a fresh perspective on the situation between him and Syd. However, before he could think of dialing his cell phone rang.

"This is Vaughn."

_"Hey Mike. What are you guys up to?"_

"Not too much. Syd went to the hotel spa for a massage and some other stuff. We don't really have any definite plans. What's on your mind?"

_"Want to go out for a beer or two tonight? Sarah suggested that she and Sydney could hang out tonight and get to know each other and you and I would have a chance to catch up a bit."_

"Sounds good to me, but let me check with Syd."

_"Right, talk to you later and let me know then."_

"Yeah, bye."

Vaughn had just hung up his phone when Sydney came back to their room, looking relaxed and happy. Vaughn ran Harm's plan for the evening by her and she seemed to think it was a great idea, she didn't have many female friends and was hoping she could gain another one during their trip here. Vaughn then called Harm back to set things up for the evening.

_Benziger's Bar, 8 PM Eastern Standard Time_

Harm and Vaughn were sitting across from each other in a booth, each with a beer in front of them. Neither one seemed able to get the conversation started, until finally Harm couldn't take the silence stretching between them.

"So, what's going on between you and Sydney. I noticed some tension between you at the airport this morning."

"Whoa, talk about a loaded question, my friend. Our situation is so complicated, you wouldn't believe it."

"I wouldn't be too sure. Sarah and I have a pretty complicated history ourselves and you wouldn't believe what it took for us to finally get together."

"Sounds like we both have a lot to tell, then. But let me start my story by asking if you ever got the wedding invitation I sent you about a year and a half ago?"

"Nope, but back then I was going though some pretty bad stuff so even if it came I wouldn't have noticed it. I'm guessing that the woman you were supposed to be marrying wasn't Sydney then, was it?"

"Nope, her name was Lauren Reed. Her father was actually one of the senators from Virginia before he died."

"I know who you mean. Wasn't he the senator that committed suicide because he had been a traitor or something."

"Well, that's the story that was given to the public, but it's nowhere near the truth. And I can't tell you everything about what happened or the truth behind what happened, but leave it at the fact that it wasn't suicide."

"Right, I know all about things being classified, having participated in some CIA ops in the past. But what I am wondering is what Senator Reed's death has to do with the tension between you and Sydney."

"Right, maybe I better start from the beginning."

"Yeah, that would help. Because right now I am so confused. So tell Dr. Rabb the story and let's see what we can come up with."

Vaughn chuckled at that one. "I haven't consulted Dr. Rabb since my last year in law school. This should be fun."

**AN: **Sorry this was short...haven't had much time...and I know that I sad there will be a mission, but there is a lot of background that I need to put into this story before the mission comes up. Next chapter, Harm gets Vaughn's story. After that we catch up with Mac and Syd, then we get the mission (probably around Chapter 8 or 9 for that)


	6. Chapter 6

**_Chapter Six_**

"I guess the best place to start is at the beginning. A couple of years ago, one of the greatest threats to the US and the world was known as the Alliance of 12. One of the Alliance cells was in LA, so the primary focus of LA based intelligence offices was the takedown of the Alliance. In fact, there was a CIA/FBI joint task force set-up that I was assigned to that had a strong focus on the Alliance takedown."

"I heard about something three years ago, something about the defeat of some major terrorist organization."

"Right, that was the Alliance - but the story I'm going to tell you begins a little less than two years before that."

"OK."

"There was already one double agent in place in SD-6. From what I know, other intelligence agencies also had doubles in other Alliance cells. Anyway, the double in SD-6 had a daughter that worked for SD-6 as well. Only she didn't know that SD-6 was evil. In fact, the leader of SD-6 portrayed his organization to his people as a black ops division of the CIA. Therefore, it was required to keep it all a secret."

"What does this have to do with you, Mike?"

"I'm getting there, Harm. But you need to understand the background to understand where things are at. So the double's daughter was seriously seeing someone and then she got engaged. And she realized that she couldn't keep the truth from her fiancé. So she told him about SD-6. And because she told, the head of SD-6 had him killed. She found him lying dead in the bathroom of their apartment, and it was this that let her realize the truth, that SD-6 was part of the Alliance, the people she thought she had been working against. So first she went on a mission to prove herself loyal to SD-6. And then she came to the real CIA to tell her story. I was the person she met when she came in. It was obvious from her appearance that she'd been through a major fight; her mouth was swollen and she had this bright red wig on. She just sat and wrote, and wrote. And I was the lucky one who had to read the statement, and verify it's authenticity. This girl then became the second CIA double inside SD-6 with her father, and I was assigned as her handler."

"Who was the girl?"

"Who do you think?"

"Sydney? Sydney was the double?"

"Yup, Sydney was the new double, along with her father Jack. And so for a year and a half we would meet in secret, working to bring down SD-6 and a lot more. She found out a lot of truths about her childhood, her life, that she couldn't share with her two best friends. I was the only one besides her father that knew the truth, and the relationship between her and her father hasn't been great since she was six years old when they thought her mother died."

"And were you two together that whole time?"

"Not even close. First of all, there were rules about those types of things. Second of all, I actually had a girlfriend at the time. And thirdly, if we were ever seen together we'd be killed."

"Yeah, I could see how that would be a problem."

"Anyway, as time went on we got closer, and due to a set of strange circumstances one of her friends eventually learned the truth about her life, which made things easier for her to deal with. Along the way, I got sick, and she found the cure for my disease and then met my girlfriend, which caused more awkwardness between us. By then, my relationship with my girlfriend was pretty much over, because all I wanted was to be with Sydney even if I couldn't be with her."

"So where does Lauren fit into this?"

"She comes into the story in about a year - I'm working my way up to her."

"Yeah, well you sure are taking your time about this, my friend."

"Sorry, I've never really had to tell the story to anyone before. My best friend Eric lived the story with me - he knew everything from start to end and my mother didn't want to know the details - she's just happy I'm back with Sydney now. She never liked Lauren."

"Anyway, as I was saying, all I wanted was to be with Sydney even if I couldn't actually be with her. And then came the big break. The head of SD-6 had taken on a new associate. And this new associate let it slip to Sydney that there was a source that had all the information about the Alliance on it. If we could get the information from that source and verify it's authenticity, we could take the Alliance down."

"Sounds pretty easy to me, get the info, verify it, destroy the enemy."

"It was easy, but Syd nearly gave me a heart attack along the way when she jumped out of a plane after de-pressurizing it. But we got what we needed and just needed to verify it. Her father was supposed to go into SD-6 and verify if the information was correct, but he was caught by the acting head of SD-6 as a mole and was taken to be tortured. Luckily, he was able to let Sydney know what was going on so she was safe, but Jack was in big trouble. Sydney had to tell her SD-6 partner the truth so that he could verify the information for us. It let to some bad times between the two of them."

"So the information must have been accurate then, since you said that the Alliance was destroyed."

"Yeah, it was correct. Teams were put into place globally and an attack was launched on all Alliance cells simultaneously. Sydney and I were both part of the group that attacked SD-6, and she was able to kill her father's torturer before he caused lasting damage or killed him."

"Then what happened?" Harm was noticing the way Vaughn seemed to be thinking about something else with an almost dreamlike expression on his face.

"That day was the first time I kissed her. I had been dreaming about it for so long. I kissed her standing in the rubble of SD-6. It was probably the most amazing kiss of my life. You know the kind I mean?"

"Oh, yeah," Harm was thinking of the kiss he shared with Mac after they crashed the plane in Paraguay when they realized they were both safe. (This didn't happen on the show - remember - Season 9 and 10 do not exist in this story.)

"And finally we were free to be together, The Alliance was gone and so we thought that all of our troubles had disappeared. The next few months were some of the happiest in my were going great and I had planned a nice little getaway for the two of us to Santa Barbara. I was going to ask her to marry me on that trip. I dropped her off at home to pack for our trip and then I went back to the office for a meeting. After that meeting the bottom of my world dropped out from beneath me." The far away look was back on Vaughn's face, underlying it was some sadness and a great deal of anger.

"I went to pick up Syd for our trip and came upon the scene. Her apartment was on fire and she and her roommate were nowhere to be found. Eventually, I saw her friend Will lying on the street near the door with stab marks in his abdomen and bleeding profusely but Sydney was just gone. A couple of months later they found a body that they were able to identify as Sydney's through dental records. Her father and I decided to have her cremated and I threw her ashes into the ocean at the beach."

"But then how is she alive and here with you now?"

"It's complicated and I'll get to that. I can't give you all the details but I'll just tell you that people aren't always what they seem."

"Right, got it."

"So now I had to learn to live without Sydney. In the beginning I would go out every night and get myself completely drunk. Being drunk numbed the pain of losing Sydney. And then I met Lauren. Looking back on it, clearly she was taking advantage of me for her own gain but I was so numb with pain I didn't even realize it."

"Using you? But didn't you marry her?"

"Let me explain. I met Lauren when she was brought in by the NSC to do an investigation of a terrorist named Irina Derevko. I only went to the meeting because I would lose my job if I didn't. That was the last thing I officially did for the CIA for a little over a year. I spent some time as a French teacher after that. Anyway, a couple of days after my interview I got a phone call from Lauren asking me to meet her for coffee. I thought she had more questions so I agreed. Turns out she was thinking of this meeting as a date. And I figured I had nothing to lose so I decided to try it. After all, everyone was telling me I had to move on with my life and Lauren seemed nice enough. Before I knew it, we were engaged, though I don't even remember the details of the proposal. We had a huge, lavish wedding in the backyard of her parents estate. I thought I was happy and then once again my world came crashing down."

"What happened?"

"I got a phone call from my former supervisor at the JTF. An agent had called in from Hong Kong using Sydney's ID number and claiming to be her. I was the best choice of people to go see her and see if it was really Sydney or not. I saw her for the first time in two years in a safe house in Hong Kong and I had to tell her I was married. The thing is, she didn't remember anything about those two years and to her only a few hours had passed. She couldn't believe I had moved on."

"Wow, you guys really can't catch a break."

"Anyway, we went back to LA, and I was convinced to come back to work at the CIA. But it was torture seeing her every day. She wasn't mine anymore and we were forced to work together, go on operations together, and constantly spend time together. If that wasn't enough, Lauren was assigned to be the NSC liason at the JTF so Sydney constantly saw us together, which I'm sure made things worse for her. I was so conflicted. I loved Sydney but I was married to Lauren and I thought I loved Lauren to."

"Thought you loved her?"

"After a certain operation Sydney and I were on turned sour I realized my heart belonged to Sydney and I asked Lauren for a separation. But a couple of days later her father was dead and I felt like it would be wrong for me to leave her."

"So you stayed with Lauren?"

"I stayed with Lauren. At the same time there were suspicions of a mole at the JTF. Sydney's father believed that Lauren was the mole and he and Sydney confronted me about it. I didn't want to believe them, after all Lauren was my wife. However, that made me suspicious, since most of the operations that went bad involved myself and Sydney and Lauren had been involved in the debrief. So I went snooping through Lauren's things and found that Sydney and Jack were correct, my wife was a traitor. I was so angry, especially when I was put in a situation where I had to seduce her while wearing a wire to keep her from getting suspicious. I know Syd was at the other end but I don't actually know how much she heard."

"Da** man, talk about caught between a rock and hard place."

"Right. Shortly after that Lauren realized we were on to her and the pretense of our marriage was over. In fact, she and one of her cohorts actually kidnapped and tortured me. That left Sydney alone to bring her down as I was in the hospital. Eventually, I got myself out of the hospital and went after Syd. I was the one to actually kill Lauren, but only because I beat Sydney to it. Turns out, Lauren was working for the same people that had taken Sydney for two years. Her mission was to simply keep me and Sydney apart."

"Is that the whole story, then?"

"Pretty much. Syd and I both need to meet with psychologists at Langley while we're here. They think that I might have had some psychological conditioning done on me that caused me to go to Lauren so quickly and there are still after effects for Sydney dealing with her missing time, though I do know that she knows more about it then she used to."

"Mike, that was some wild story. It makes what Mac and I have been through seem like a walk in the park. Unfortunately I think it is beyond Dr. Rabb's ability to truly help you with this. But I just think Sydney needs time. I also think that if they find that you were psychologically conditioned to remain loyal to Lauren that she'll have an easier time forgiving you and understanding you. Right now, she only sees the straight betrayal without understanding how such a thing came to be."

"Yeah, it's why we decided to stay in a hotel while we're here. We have a lot to deal with and we need our own space to do it in. So when do I get to hear your story?"

"Soon, but not tonight. It's getting late and there are two beautiful women waiting for the two of us to get back to my apartment right now."


End file.
